Dr. Tammy Theologus, principal of Blackshear Elementary School (left), was on hand recently to congratulate eleven Blackshear Elementary students for winning the Manufacturing Appreciation Week Student Design Competition sponsored by Okefenokee Technical College. Students in Mrs. Lisa Gillis’s (right) and Mrs. Sprucy Jones’ (2nd from left) classes were asked to depict the importance of manufacturing to their lives and communities through a placemat design. OTC staff judged the entries and selected a winner from each grade. Six students were also selected as having entries worthy of honorable mention. Honorable Mention certificates were awarded to (L to R- back row) Ashlee Hunt, Mary Benfield, Loran Jordan, Tristen George, Jacob Peavy and Toni Richardson (not pictured). Grade level winners were Ethan Mitchell, 1st Grade; Kinsley White, 2nd Grade; Jaylen Peacock, 3rd Grade; Regan Roberson, 4th Grade; and Haleigh Rowe, 5th Grade. All entries from all participating students will be submitted to a state student design competition sponsored by the Department of Technical and Adult Education and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The top three state winners will be honored at the Governor’s Awards Luncheon on April 12, 2007. One objective of the contest is to make participants aware of industry and manufacturing as providing viable career options. Manufacturing provides jobs for approximately 450,000 Georgians.